Tommy Lahitte
Editor

Generate Visual Studio Project Files from the Command Line

Right-clicking a .uproject in Explorer is the usual way to regenerate VS project files, but it can fail silently or use the wrong engine. The command-line approach is more reliable and works for both Launcher installs and source builds.

visual-studioproject-filesbuildcommand-linesource

After adding new source files, changing module dependencies, or switching engine versions, you need to regenerate project files. The command-line method gives you explicit control over which engine is used.

Source Build (Perforce / GitHub)

bash
GenerateProjectFiles.bat -project="C:\Path\To\Your\Project.uproject" -game -engine

Installed Build (Launcher)

Windows:

bash
Engine\Build\BatchFiles\Build.bat -ProjectFiles -project="C:\Path\To\Your\Project.uproject" -game -engine

Mac:

bash
Engine/Build/BatchFiles/Mac/Build.sh -ProjectFiles -project="/Path/To/Your/Project.uproject" -game -engine

Flags Explained

  • -game: includes game module targets (Editor, Game, Client, Server)
  • -engine: includes engine source in the solution (needed if you are modifying engine code)
  • -project: absolute path to the .uproject file
Tip: Create a batch file at the project root that calls this command. One double-click regenerates everything without needing to remember the syntax.

Associate .uproject with the Right Engine

If the right-click option is broken, find UnrealVersionSelector-Win64-Shipping.exe inside Engine/Binaries/Win64 and run it. It re-registers the .uproject file association with the current engine build.

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Setting Up Unreal Engine on Linux via Perforce and UGS CLI

Full workflow for getting Unreal Engine running on a Linux machine from a Perforce stream: install the dev toolchain, init a UGS workspace, install Clang, build, and launch the editor.

Speed Up Builds with Unreal Build Accelerator (UBA)

UBA distributes compilation tasks across a Horde cluster, dramatically reducing full rebuild times. Enabling it is a single XML config change, no code modifications required.